Wireless communication devices exchange signaling with base stations to obtain wireless communication services, such as telephony and Internet access. These wireless communication devices may be in active mode where the signaling is continuously exchanged, or the devices may be in idle mode where they are substantially dormant—only waking up periodically to briefly exchange signaling.
The wireless communication devices and base stations wirelessly communicate over frequency band classes. A frequency band class is a section of the spectrum that is individually licensed by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). In the past, wireless communication devices typically operated over a single frequency band class. At present, wireless communication devices are becoming available that can operate over multiple frequency band classes.
Overview
In a wireless communication system, a wireless access node provides a wireless communication service to wireless communication devices over a first frequency band class and over a second frequency band class. A control system identifies a subset of the wireless communication devices operating over the first frequency band class that have been in an idle mode for a time period that exceeds a threshold. The wireless access node transfers a signal to the subset of the wireless communication devices to transition from the first frequency band class to the second frequency band class. The wireless access node then provides the wireless communication service to at least some of the subset of the wireless communication devices over the second frequency band class